Back a few years ago when I was a total noob (as now I am just a noob) I set up my first tank (20 3long) armed with all the knowledge I pulled off this site and such and with the goal to not kill a single animal. After the cycle with my 3 pieces of LR I threw in a fire fish and few days later gone... no trace..... I was like what the hell? Looking on the floor and what not. Next week cleaner wrass.....a day later gone. Finally a few days later again I was at the LFS about to pull the triger on a blue chromis damsel when the guy said maybe you have a Mantis. So I spared the chromis for the moment and went home to observe the LR a little more per the LFS. Sure enough their were some left overs protruding out of one of the pieces of LR. After hours of watching this one rock and sneeking down all quite with the red flashlight at night, over a week later I finally saw inwall75's signiture in a tiny hole in that LR. Anyway I read some internet post portraying these guys as the anti-Christ and I killed that bugger while trying to get him out of the rock. Now I feel just as bad for him as my first two fish.

I have had one about 18-24 mos. It does like snails, dozens of shells outside of its cave I think mabe it also got all the fish in my tank except for one damsel I used to cycle the tank about a million years ago.
how long do they live?

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Reef aquariums made easy with 3reef aquarium forums - one of the oldest and friendliest aquarium forums online. 3reef came online in 1996 as 'Three Steps To A Reef Aquarium.' This title was created as an attempt to overcome the common fears associated with keeping a reef aquarium, especially at that time. 3reef still retains its roots and remains a friendly forum for new people interested in aquariums and veteran hobbyist alike.